Image-Quality Assessment of 3D Intracranial Vessel Wall MRI Using DANTE or DANTE-CAIPI for Blood Suppression and Imaging Acceleration

3D intracranial vessel wall MRI techniques are time consuming and prone to artifacts, especially flow artifacts. Our aim was to compare the image quality of accelerated and flow-suppressed 3D intracranial vessel wall MR imaging techniques relative to conventional acquisitions. Consecutive patients undergoing MR imaging had conventional postcontrast 3D T1-sampling perfection with application-optimized contrasts by using different flip angle evolution (SPACE) and either postcontrast delay alternating with nutation for tailored excitation (DANTE) flow-suppressed or DANTE-controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration (CAIPI) flow-suppressed and accelerated T1-SPACE sequences performed. The sequences were evaluated using 4- or 5-point Likert scales for overall image quality, SNR, extent/severity of artifacts, motion, blood suppression, sharpness, and lesion assessment. Quantitative assessment of lumen and wall-to-lumen contrast ratios was performed. Eighty-nine patients were included. T1-DANTE-SPACE had significantly better qualitative ratings relative to T1-SPACE for image quality, SNR, artifact impact, arterial and venous suppression, and lesion assessment ( < .001 for each, respectively), with the exception of motion ( = .16). T1-DANTE-CAIPI-SPACE had significantly better image quality, lesion assessment, arterial and venous blood suppression, less artifact impact, and less motion compared with T1-SPACE ( < .001 for each, respectively). The SNR was higher with T1-SPACE compared with T1-DANTE-CAIPI-SPACE ( < .001). T1-DANTE-CAIPI-SPACE showed significantly worse lumen ( = .005) and wall-to-lumen contrast ratios ( = .001) compared with T1-SPACE, without a significant difference between T1-SPACE and T1-DANTE-SPACE. T1-DANTE-CAIPI-SPACE scan time was 5:11 minutes compared with 8:08 and 8:41 minutes for conventional T1-SPACE and T1-DANTE-SPACE, respectively. Accelerated postcontrast T1-DANTE-CAIPI-SPACE had fewer image artifacts, less motion, improved blood suppression, and a shorter scan time, but lower qualitative and quantitative SNR ratings relative to conventional T1-SPACE intracranial vessel wall MR imaging. Postcontrast T1-DANTE-SPACE had superior SNR, blood suppression, higher image quality, and fewer image artifacts, but slightly longer scan times relative to T1-SPACE.